series of videos this year and last murdering american, british and japanese hostages. he was identified in february as mohammed emwazi, who was born in kuwait and grew up in london. this morning, british prime minister david cameron said the drone strike was a joint effort by british and u.s. intelligence agencies working around the clock to track him down. >> he was isil's lead executioner. and let us never forget that he killed many, many muslims, too. and he was intent on murdering many more people. so, this was an act of sel self-defense. it was the right thing to do. >> what we know about mohammed emwazi's background is that he was born, as mentioned, in kuwait. he was college educated and he left britain in 2012 for syria. he's believed to be in his mid-20s and has been described by a former hostage as a blood-thirsty psychopath who

enjoyed threatening western hostages. secretary of state john kerry appeared at a news conference in tunisia, saying, "we are all still assessing the results of this strike." richard engel is standing by, nbc's chief foreign correspondent. he joins us live now by phone. he is headed to turkey, where thousands of refugees from syria and iraq have been fleeing. obviously, richard, isis still has a stronghold on a number of areas, a great portion of territory. however, bringing down this individual would be symbolic for many reasons. >> reporter: it would be symbolic, and it could have more than a symbolic impact. part of the appeal of isis, part of its mystique is that it has seemed invincible, that it has been able to launch attacks, it's been able to hold territory, it's been able to withstand the constant air attacks by russia, by the united states and by others.

and if they are now able to be targeted by name in raqqah, which is the isis stronghold, that does penetrate their air of invincibility to a degree. but the fact that he was killed, apparently in an air strike, will also, in the eyes of isis supporters, make him a martyr, and there will be others lining up to take his place. so, it is a blow to the group, it is a blow to their pr machine, but it is not the kind of thing that is likely to do much organizational damage to them. >> obviously, as you heard, richard, david cameron said that this was a joint effort by british and u.s. intelligence. this individual's story -- again, we are working to confirm whether or not he is dead, but his story is very similar to the stories of others that you've reported on for some time now. here's a young man, college educated, living in the uk, and he leaves for syria in 2012 to

join isis. >> reporter: and was involved in radical groups before that. >> right. >> reporter: he had a background as a petty criminal. others in his neighborhood were involved in islamic radical groups going all the way back to 2009. he was first linked to radicals that were supplying weapons and money to fighters in somalia. then he claims that he was detained and arrested while on a trip to tanzania and was under surveillance by british authorities but still managed to leave the country and make his way into syria. yes, a typical story of radicalization of someone who was involved in petty crime who becomes increasingly violent and someone who apparently had real -- enjoyed what he was doing, people who were hostages. because the americans and the brits and two japanese were killed by isis at the knife of

jihadi john, but other european hostages were freed, and they described him as just a, as you said, a psychopath, someone who carried around an enormous sword, who would brag about how he was going to cut their heads off, who seemed to enjoy it. and that is also the kind of person who is attracted to isis, people who not only become radicalized, but seem to have an incredible pension for blood-thirsty violence. >> all right, richard engel, nbc's chief foreign correspondent. and we have more breaking news on the war against isis. this morning, kurdish forces are claiming victory in the offensive to reclaim sinjar in northern iraq. video shows forces celebrating in sinjar. however, officials are expressing caution about declaring victory. isis overran sinjar last year, reportedly killing and enslaving thousands of residents and causing thousands of others to flee. "associated press" reporter susanna george joins me live by

phone. she is near sinjar. thank you for joining us. we have video of kurdish forces walking the streets with their flags raised, indicating that isis is on the run there. what can you tell us of the current situation? >> reporter: we walked into sinjar today, this afternoon, with one of the first groups of kurdish forces to enter the town since this highly publicized, long-awaited offensive began on thursday. and these troops that we walked in with walked in very casually. there were no clashes, but we could see no resistance from islamic state fighters as we entered the town with these troops. all that we could hear as we were walking into the town were celebratory gunfire from other kurdish troops that were walking in with us. >> we obviously know this is part of an effort with the u.s. backing providing air strikes in support of retaking this city. that seems to be the key to allowing the kurdish forces the

apparent victory that we're watching play out. >> that's right. the day before, on thursday during the day, we saw an intense air campaign against sinjar led by coalition aircraft. there were -- the pentagon reported that in a 24-hour period, over 40 air strikes were dropped on sinjar and surrounding areas. and when we were at the front lines during the day, we saw about six an hour being dropped on a relatively small town. and so, that intense air bombardment combined with the size of the operation, the sheer number of kurdish forces that were amassing in three fronts around the town that was able to facilitate such a smooth movement of troops inside the town today. >> susannah george, "associated press" reporter near sinjar, thank you so much for your reporting. today is a day of mourning in lebanon after two suicide

bombings in beirut yesterday killed at least 41 people and injured more than 200 others. isis is claiming responsibility for the attacks that are the deadliest in beirut since the end of lebanon's civil war back in 1990. the bombings targeted a neighborhood that is a stronghold of the shiite militia hezbollah, which is fighting against isis in neighboring syria. let's turn now to politics. in less than a half hour, we are expecting to hear from ben carson, who will take questions from reporters. dr. carson certainly under attack by donald trump last night, a vicious attack by many. trump tore into carson during a rambling, 90-minute speech in iowa, a speech "politico" and others have described as an epic rant. first, trump attacked dr. carson's claims that he had "a pathological temper" as a teenager. >> he said he's got pathological disease. he actually said pathological temper, and then he defined it as disease. so, he said he has pathological

disease. if you're a child molester, a sick puppy, you're a child molester, there's no cure for that. if you're a child molester, there's no cure. they can't stop you. pathological, there's no cure. >> trump then mocked what carson has described as a key event in his life, the time he allegedly tried to stab a classmate only to have the knife broken by a belt buckle. >> he took a knife and he went after a friend, and he lunged! he lunged that knife into the stomach of his friend! but lo and behold, it hit the belt! it hit the belt. and the knife broke. give me a break. let me tell you, i'm pretty good at this stuff. so, i have a belt. somebody hits me with a belt, it's going in because the belt moves this way, it moves this

way, it moves that way. but he took the knife, he went like this, and he plunged it into the belt! and amazingly, the belt stayed totally flat and the knife broke. how stupid are the people of iowa? how stupid are the people of the country to believe this crap? >> well, ben carson's campaign had no comment this morning. we reached out to a number of members of his team, but let me bring in our political panel, democratic national committee communications director luis miranda. he joins us from drake university in des moines, iowa, the site of tomorrow night's democratic debate. also with me, republican strategist susan depersia. let me start with you, susan. there is so much to talk about. it says "trump goes off the rails. it's become easy to get used to donald trump's theatrics on the trail over the last few months, but his performance last night in iowa shook them right back

into perspective." they say personal attack is one thing, comparing ben carson to a child molester is jaw-dropping and perhaps a new low for those trying to battle it out to become the president of the united states. >> it is a new low. there's no doubt about that. we haven't seen those kind of personal attacks ever. but donald trump seems to survive them. what i don't think he'll survive is a lesson he's learning right now, which is that it's very difficult to run for president. it takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of energy, and i think that rant was proof that he was actually tired, and more or less in love with the sound of his own voice. and now he has to start to make a change and stop talking to people and now communicate with them. >> obviously, that's your perspective. you're a republican. but that room was filled with other republicans who were responding with laughter, with head nods. our reporter on the scene said that one woman said she was still processing. but if you look at the reaction, susan, of what we were hearing and seeing there, if someone had

to define that group of republicans, how would you capture the definition or caption it? >> mostly a bunch of people who want to see a reality tv star. it is still celebrity with him. they do like the fact that he talks off the cuff, but this speech really was off the rails. he just went too far. and pretty soon, what people kept saying, his own words will hurt him. i think we're beginning to see some of that. >> luis, you're in iowa, and some are wondering if donald trump's words about that state may hurt pihim, questioning the voters of iowa, questioning what they're thinking. this would be the second time that i recall trump, in a sense, passively and aggressively taking on the voters of iowa, because he is so close with dr. carson in the polls. >> reporter: it's really hard to know what's going to happen in this cycle that's been so unpredictable, but the reality is that the meltdown was not just donald trump. there was a big meltdown just this week on tuesday in milwaukee with the republican candidates unable to really answer tough questions about the economy and showing that their

only commitment isn't to the middle class, it's to tax cuts for the wealthy, and it's been such a bad week for them. just look at the battles between ted cruz and marco rubio on immigration yesterday, donald trump's meltdown, and you see why mitt romney, mr. 47% himself, is thinking of jumping back into this thing. so, the meltdown is much broader and has implications for the american people because you have a field of republican candidates basically saying they want to go back to the same policies in place when we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. nobody wants to do that. and on top of that, when it comes to national security, you just opened up your show with all of this news that's happening. it's a reminder that real national security and real leadership isn't about just talking about bombing everyone, it's about working with our allies, having a strategy and working in a lot of detail every single day to be able to make progress on it. and our intelligence officials, our defense department, our soldiers, they're all doing a hard job. the president knows what this takes. and clearly, the republican field isn't serious about that or the economy. >> and i have some questions

regarding the debate tonight -- tomorrow night, excuse me, with the democrats. but i want to go back quickly to susan. since luis brought it up, there is a report that some republicans are speaking to mitt romney. "washington post" is reporting this, that perhaps the field is such a disappointment that romney needs to step back in. your thoughts? >> kudos to luis for hitting every single democratic talking point there was today. so good job there. >> reporter: thank you. >> when you start talking to mitt romney, he's not coming back in. it's the party's frustration, the establishment's frustration. and what's even worse about this than looking towards mitt romney is that they still don't get it. they don't understand that people are frustrated with them as well. this is a rebel against the establishment. >> so, you're a strategist. what do you say to your party? to your point, luis just hit every talking point, certainly so. but with that said, you have the statement that was made at the gop debate this week that the clinton team was applauding some of the things your party said about immigration.

and here you have donald trump, the front-runner, basically saying he would bomb the hell out of isis. that's his strategy. and then the challenger on the outside being ben carson, the guy who in some polls is leading nationally, saying that his team has secret briefings about china being in syria when there's no documented proof that china has any presence in syria right now. >> well, i don't believe donald trump nor ben carson will be the party's nominee, because once they start getting really challenged to implement these plans, such as donald trump's immigration plan to deport 12 million people through some kind of special force, it's absurd. and he can't explain it. he can't pay for it. dr. ben carson, like you said, talking about china having some secret role with isis, fighting, it doesn't make sense. it just doesn't add up. and i think over time, voters will come to that. you'll start to see people paying attention again to cruz,

rubio, bush. they will all come back. >> all right, luis, before we let you go, i have to touch on tomorrow night's democratic debate. hillary clinton has pulled away from bernie sanders in all of the polls, pretty much out there. however, this may be a big opportunity for bernie sanders. he's already laid the groundwork, pointing out that he distinguishes himself from hillary clinton on just about everything, and the issues they agree on, he makes a quick point that she has changed on many of those as of late to come, in his words, to his side of the arguments. >> reporter: i think absolutely all of the candidates are going to be working to distinguish themselves, and so, i think this will still be an exciting debate. but the reality is, is that the biggest contrast is between our field and the republican field, and i think you're going to see just what we saw at the first debate, which is that this is a field that's substantive. this isn't a food fight. there's no kids' table at this debate. these are people that are ready to leave -- >> well, there's no kids' table because you don't have 17 or 19 candidates, so -- >> reporter: there were two

kids' tables debates at other one. i don't think the second debate in milwaukee was much more serious than the first one, especially when you have the republican candidates talking about things like raising the minimum wage as disastrous and showing they don't understand what middle class people are going through. we're at drake university and people want to send their kids to college and know they can afford that. and when those kids graduate from college, they want to know they're not going to be reeled with debt for the rest of their lives and we heard from republican candidates that make privatizing parking lots is a solution to that. >> but between the front-runner and bernie sanders, while it's easy to point out some of the issues that are in the news today with the republican party, tomorrow's headline or sunday's headline certainly could be an attack on hillary clinton, your front-runner, from bernie sanders, who has a great amount of support from progressives, and he is in this to win it, as he said, and he certainly may take his shot tomorrow. >> reporter: and that's just fine. i mean, we want there to be a healthy competition.

we're looking forward to the caucuses here in iowa and primaries and caucuses all across the country, so we want there to be a good debate. but the reality is, is that when you look at the substance of our candidates, they're going to be in a good place in terms of the middle class and in terms of distinguishing themselves, we want them to do that. we want them to have a chance to present their visions, so we welcome that. >> that will happen tomorrow. luis, thank you very much for your time. susan, thank you as well. in just a moment, dr. ben carson will take questions from reporters in south carolina, where he's leading in a number of polls there. we're going to bring you the latest comments from ben carson. will he respond to the latest line of attacks from donald trump? also happening right now, marco rubio is about to speak at the sunshine summit. that's in orlando, florida. it's hosted by the republican party in that state. rubio's new comments on immigration after openly feuding with ted cruz. we'll play that for you. plus, the new details into why defense secretary ash carter suddenly fired his top military aide. and this -- >> with poverty at an all-time

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developing now, these are live pictures from florida, where marco rubio is about to speak. he's one of a dozen republican presidential candidates gathering in orlando this weekend for the sunshine summit hosted by the florida republican party. following rubio to the stage will be presidential rival candidate ted cruz.

their dueling speeches come amid an escalating war of words between the two over immigration. rubio and cruz blasting each other yesterday over their stances of the failed 2013 immigration bill, a bill partly spearheaded by senator rubio as part of the bipartisan gang of eight. >> ted is a supporter of legalizing people that are in fact, when the senate bill was proposed, he proposed legalizing people that were here illegally. he proposed giving them work permits. if you look at it, i don't think our positions are dramatically different. >> my reaction in all of politics is, talk is cheap, that you know where someone is based on their actions. as the scripture says, you shall know them by their fruits. the gang of eight, they fought tooth and nail to try to jam this amnesty down the american people's throat. >> nbc's hallie jackson joins us live now from orlando. hallie, senator rubio's team

released video of senator cruz at the time supporting "amnesty" deal. and when you look at the polls, donald trump leading 37%, ted cruz is at 10%, marco rubio 16%, ben carson 17%. a lot at stake in that important state. >> reporter: absolutely, immigration has become a real issue in this republican race, largely in part because of donald trump and some of the actions and talk that he has taken on earlier on in the campaign. you talked about the video that's been circulating around of senator cruz proposing an amendment in 2013 when the comprehensive immigration reform bill was happening, an amendment to essentially strip the big bill of its pathway to citizenship. and cruz's campaign says it was essentially a tactic, a strategy move to try to expose the hypocrisy of the democrats. senator cruz has gone after senator rubio on this since the debate on tuesday night. and this morning, after marco rubio yesterday said he and senator cruz actually share a similar position on immigration, ted cruz appeared on a radio show, "the mike gallagher show"

and said it was laughably, blazingly false. he said he laughed out loud when he heard that and said making that comparison is like president obama comparing senator cruz's position on obamacare to the president's. so, this back-and-forth continuing here. it will be interesting on stage because marco rubio is set to speak here in a couple of minutes. ted cruz will be speaking right after pihim. tamron? >> thank you. we'll continue to follow the events in florida, big weekend. coming up, rapper and activist jeezy is trending after his comments about race relations in america and the student protests at universities across the country. >> they're making us soldiers, soldiers in a war for humanity. we have nothing to lose, everything to fight for. >> that is from his open letter about blacks facing problems -- problems that blacks are facing around the country. he joins me now to talk about presidential politics, ben carson's strategy in reaching out to urban youths and more,

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it's what you do. ♪ you make me feel ♪ so spring has sprung. welcome back. we are waiting for ben carson's first public appearance since donald trump's shocking attacks last night, where among many things, trump compared carson's admitted pathological temper as a teenager to that of a child molester. these are live pictures. tim scott will also be joining dr. carson. we reached out, by the way, to the carson campaign for comment, and so far, we have not received a response regarding that rant from donald trump in iowa. we will bring you dr. carson's comments lives in a few minutes. it's interesting, in an effort to attract african-american voters, the carson campaign released a rap on the radio last week. young jeezy was not the artist on the track but has a reputation for infusing important social and political messages into his music. now jeezy has a new album with a

strong message about the concerns and issues affecting today's social climate, from police brutality to gang violence and poverty. jeezy addresses it all in his new album, "church in these streets." he released a poignant open letter about the state of our society. take a listen. >> with poverty at an all-time high, it's damn near impossible for one to take care of themselves without the possibility of prison or death. you have law enforcement agents gunning down unarmed, black men. you have misinformed young americans gunning down unarmed women, children, men in churches, movie theaters and public events. there's a war going on, but you have to ask yourself, who is the enemy? >> and legendary hip-hop artist and activist jeezy is joining me

now. thank you for joining me. >> thank you. >> you are trending after comments you made regarding the protests we've seen on college campuses. it's interesting, we are waiting on the news conference from ben carson, an african-american man running for president, with senator tim scott, an african-american senator. >> right. >> and you have a black man in the white house. >> right. >> that african-americans supported in large numbers. but the headlines, in contrast, students walking out of college campuses, a number of violent deaths of unarmed black men and black women under attack in many other ways. the time for your album could not be more right. >> yeah. well to me, it's more so just using my voice as a tool to kind of, i guess, you know, calm the temperature down on things, try to get some type of understanding. i almost feel like sometimes as far as who we are as leaders and as artists, we kind of get caught up in our lives and things that we want, and

sometimes forget about the people that put us there. so, this album was more so about, you know, me recognizing and acknowledging those people because i went through my situation where i was incarcerated in l.a. for basically being a rapper, and i had nothing to do with the incident. and you know, it kind of damaged my reputation, and i promised myself when i got in a better situation -- all the charges were dropped, by the way -- but when i got into a better situation, i was going to be over truthful. and this was around the time that all these things were happening, ferguson and -- actually, ferguson happened right before i was incarcerated. and then everything from the mike brown to eric garner, all of these things happened, even trayvon martin. it's confusing because this is america and, like, what are we doing to each other, you know what i mean? >> it is interesting, too, that you have candidates on both sides who have taken issue with the black lives matter movement and have their opinions from the republican party to the democratic party, but incarceration, since you

mentioned that, we almost have a bipartisan effort -- rand paul and others, who for the first time acknowledge this disproportionate number of black men incarcerated. so, now it is a part of the presidential debate dialogue on both sides. >> yeah, right. i mean, even for myself, if i didn't have the finances or the resources to fight my situation, i probably could very well still be where i was at. so, just seeing that whole thing play out and actually coming from that walk of life and getting to be where i'm at now as a successful entrepreneur and just seeing everything that's going on in my world -- i'm a taxpayer now, you know what i mean, i have children. so, i focus on these things and i watch them and i don't understand them. even like the things that are going on in the debate, it's kind of confusing, because even with donald trump and to argue about it, it sounds like a personal problem. doesn't have anything to do with the people. >> and you feel like the people are being left out. you have a social media picture of you watching the gop debate. >> right. >> you are not shutting down on either side. you are trying to ingest what both sides are saying.

>> correct. >> so, when a dr. ben carson thinks the way to reach young people or the urban community is a rap song, what's your response to that? >> i think that's corny. you know what i mean? it's just like -- you know, music is a message, is an emotion. so, sometimes rap songs have nothing to do with politics or situations. they're just fun. i just think that when you say that, you're almost stereotyping us. it's like, how is that a message? if you guys are the politicians, you've got to reach those people yourself, you know what i mean? like when obama was running, i believed in the change he was preaching -- >> not just because he was black. >> no, not at all. i think he's everybody's president, even to this day. and i hate to hear that, okay, you know, he's just a black president, he should take care of the black people. i think that's -- you know, i don't understand that. >> let me ask you about missouri. >> right. >> the football team, you're a fan and you said that they led by perfect example. >> correct. >> what do you make of you have

protests in the hood, as people like to say, whether it's ferguson, and now you've got protests on the campus of yale. >> right. >> the range there of anger and frustration from young blacks. >> right. >> how do you describe it? >> i describe it as leadership. i describe it as, you know, uniting on the cause. i describe it as standing up for what you believe in, because sometimes you can get weak in these situations and feel like you can't do nothing, but there's more strength in numbers. and for those football players to even take it upon themselves, because they've got careers they want to do and they want to be in the nfl, so for them to take it on themselves, to me it just showed real leadership. it showed that, you know, we're not focused on us, we're focused on what's going on on our campus. >> it's interesting you say real leadership because some question the leadership in black communities when you talk about police violence on unarmed blacks, they say what about black-on-black crime and personal responsibility? you heard conversations about

welfare. i've got to pause you here. dr. carson is coming in right now. >> let's see what he's talking about. >> let's listen in. >> start out by saying i feel very privileged today in the position to be in this race. it wasn't anything that i ever really planned on doing, and i'm extremely happy to be here with senator tim scott, one of the people that i really admire in the senate, represented the trey gowdy person of courage. you know, i personally know that there's probably going to be a lot of questions about, what are you going to say about donald trump and his attacks? here's what i would say. now that he's completed his gratuitous attack, why don't we press on and deal with the real issues? you know, the reason that i'm in this race is because there are some real profound issues that affect the trajectory of our country right now. that's what the people of

america are concerned about, not so much politics as usual, politics of personal destruction. that's what people are sick and tired of. and i'm hopeful that at some point we reach a level of maturity that we can actually deal with the issues that are facing us right now and stop getting into the mud and doing things that really don't matter. >> welcome to south carolina. good to have you attend this town hall, and always good to be in the congressional district of trey gowdy, and we look forward to hearing your sincere, deep and rich answers to some of the questions that are pressing on the outside and look forward to answering some of your questions for the next few minutes. questions? >> dr. carson, at the risk of getting into the mud, i did talk to some voters who are out there waiting for you to speak today, and they were concerned. a number of them spoke about what donald trump had to say about your redemption story. and given that that is a concern

that was just expressed to me minutes ago by some voters, i wonder how you feel about donald trump telling the people in iowa they would have to be stupid to believe your redemption story? >> well, you know, the wonderful thing is, it's not really up to me, it's up to the people. they will listen and they will be able to make a decision about whether they want to listen to the usual politics of personal destruction or whether they want to deal with something better. >> are you personally offended by it? >> let me put it this way, i expect that kind of thing. that's what's been going on in our country for years that's dragging us in the mud, and i don't expect it to change any time soon, but i don't have to get into it. >> dr. carson, as an african-american running for president, being on the campus of the university with the history of it and what president bush had to deal with just a few years ago, how -- what do you

say to that being the elephant in the room? >> well, i would say the same thing that i would say about any audience that i talk to. the message that i have doesn't change from one audience to the next. you know, i talk about the same things, for instance, several months ago at the national organization for latino elected officials. i gave them the same message that i give anybody else. i gave the same message when i went and spoke at al sharpton's conference that i give anywhere else. i give the same message when i went and spoke at cornell. because the issues that involve us as a nation right now, you know, as far as i'm concerned, they're not democrat or republican issues. they're not one ideology or another. they go to the essential survival and prosperity of our nation, and those are the things that i feel are important and the things that we really need

to be talking about, and i think they have broad application to every aspect of our society. >> so, you don't think this could hurt you in the african-american community? >> i do not -- i'm not a politician, so i don't go around with my finger in the air saying, let's see, can i do this and will that hurt this group or that hurt that group? that's what politicians do and i'm not a politician. so, if it hurts me, it hurts me. if it doesn't, it doesn't. i don't think it will. >> dr. carson, in tuesday's debate, you said that the chinese are in syria. since then, the white house, susan rice has come out and said that there's no evidence that the chinese are in syria and that the chinese military don't tend to like to get involved in conflicts in the middle east. do you want to stand by or expand your statement? >> we actually will be releasing some material on that before the weekend is over. >> that material -- where did you get that material from? can you give us any details about that? >> i have several sources that i've gotten material from. i'm surprised that my sources

are better than theirs. >> is that something you're going to show the white house as well, or are you in conversation -- you're claiming that you know more than the white house. >> they will have an opportunity to see the material, as everybody else will. >> when is that going to come out? >> before the weekend is over. >> dr. carson, mr. trump last night spoke for 95 minutes. some of that was about you, but a lot of it was about other aspects of the race. he called the people of iowa stupid for falling for your story. do you think that's representative of the temperament of a commander in chief? is that what you think voters want in the white house? >> well, certainly, it wouldn't be a pattern of behavior that i would adopt, but you know, that's the nice thing about, you know, an extended political process like the one that we have. people will have an opportunity to look at all of us, to assess what kind of people we are and whether, in fact, they feel we would represent them well. so, you know, it's a good process. >> dr. carson, you wanted to

talk serious policy, so let's do that. your medicare plan started out with one thing, as i understand it -- i'm just reading from the headlines -- you talked to some experts and you revised it, and i don't think we have details yet. a lot of people seem a little bit confused. what's going on with that? >> well, what i want to do -- obviously, i don't want to get rid of medicare. and i never said that i wanted to get rid of medicare. you know, people take these things and they run with them and they distort them for their own purposes. what i do want is for seniors in our society to have excellent care. right now when you look at the number of people who are in medicare, it's an extremely large number of people and it's going to be half again as much by 2030.

so, the system the way it's working right now is going to run out of money. it's simply not going to work. now, medicare is quite complex. it has part "a," part "b," part "c," part "d." the part that i really particularly like is part "c," where you have a choice where, you know, there is premium support and you can use that to buy private insurance. and the amount of that premium support is actually pretty substantial. so, if you're able to buy a policy, what i propose is if you're able to buy a policy that actually costs less than that, that you're happy with it, also includes catastrophic care, that extra money should go back into your health savings account. right now, a quarter of that money goes back to the government and the other of it goes into a nebulous area where they say we're going to help you. but i would like to put it into

your health savings account. and i want to integrate the premium support that you're getting already with health savings accounts, which hopefully, most people will already have in place when they reach the age of eligibility for medicare, and they can just continue to utilize that. >> dr. carson, your friend, al costa, he was convicted of health care fraud. you were a character witness in attesting to his honesty, but in your book you also said that you felt like there should be punishment for people who are convicted. maybe you suggested they should face no less than ten years in prison and also personal possessions. is that a bit of hypocrisy there, given that you testified for him? >> well, i recognize that it would appear that way on the surface. i can tell you that there's a reason that he's my closest friend. i know his heart.

he's one of the most honest people i've ever met in my entire life. but i don't think that that case needs to be relitigated in public. it has been litigated, a penalty has been assessed, it's been served. you know, whether it's just or not doesn't really matter at this point. >> dr. carson, donald trump last night on cnn compared things that you've said about having a pathological temper to being a child molester. that they're incurable for life. do you find this appropriate dialogue from a front-runner for the nominee in the republican race at this time? >> well, it's not the kind of dialogue that i would engage in. and i'm hopeful that maybe his advisers will help him to understand the word pathological and recognize that that does not denote incurable.

it's not the same. it simply is an adjective that describes something that is highly abnormal and something that, fortunately, i've been able to be delivered from for a half a century now. >> in calling you a child molester, do you believe he owes you an apology? >> well, i don't believe he called me a child molester. >> he compared your pathology to child molestation. >> well, you know, i always find it a little amusing what people in the press like to say. you compare this, and therefore, you said they're the same. i don't buy all that stuff. so, those are questions we should ask donald trump. and one last question? who should we use for the last question? >> last question. >> last question. what are you going to do to help protect christian higher education? >> well, one thing i would do is encourage congress to become

more active. you know, one of the beautiful things that alexis found when he came to study america is that we had a system of checks and balances and separation of powers, and he was very impressed with that. and it works extremely well when all three branches are active. when one branch sits back a little bit, like the legislative branch is doing right now, with the exception of these two gentlemen, what happens? the other branches tend to become hyperactive. so, we've got a hyperactive executive branch and a hyperactive judicial branch. the legislative branch is going to need to actually get involved and do something now to protect the rights, the religious rights of americans of faith.

and i'm confident that they will do that. and certainly, as president i would work extremely hard with them to make sure that we never have a situation where people's religious freedom is jeopardized. >> all right, thank you! that's all we have time for. thank you for coming. >> dr. ben carson appearing with senator tim scott for a series of town halls at bob jones university. but that was the q&a we've been waiting for all morning long. dr. carson's first reactions on camera to that 95-minute rant from donald trump in iowa where he compared dr. carson's past violent behavior to a disease being incurable and compared it to child molesters. you see there, i think that's described as dr. carson not taking, if it was bait laid out by donald trump, he did not take it, refusing to really comment on what donald trump said. he took a few questions as well on something that actually happened here on our show.

his spokesperson earlier in the week tried to explain why dr. carson during the presidential debate said that china has a presence in syria. that has not been proven. there's no report indicating anything of that sort. dr. carson's business spokesperson at the time said that he'd received intelligence and information to prove the assertion made by dr. carson. he now says that he will present some of the evidence and information on this weekend. he also talked about medicare earlier in the campaign. he said he wanted to abolish medicare, saying now that that is not the case and he has a plan as well related to it. so, a number of things answered to a small degree, but i'm sure we'll hear much more from dr. ben carson. but nevertheless, not really reacting to the headline of the morning, which was donald trump's rant in iowa. we'll be right back. ♪ 800,000 hours of supercomputing time, 3 million lines of code,

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news. moments ago, u.s. military official colonel steve warren said officials are reasonableably certain they have killed jihadi john. they have several methods to make a final determination but he would not elaborate, saying it is certain a u.s. drone fired yesterday hit its intended target, the car of jihadi john, the car he was riding in. again, we will have much more information later but right now, u.s. military spokesperson colonel steve warren indicating officials are reasonably certain they have killed jihadi john. now to the groundbreaking movement in detroit that could prove to be a model for the rest of this country. back in 2009 more than 11,000 rape kits were found at a police storage facility. they had been sitting there untested for 30 years. it would cost almost $30 million to test and prosecute. when wayne county prosecutor kim worthy went public with the

situation, one detroit businesswoman took it upon herself to find ways to raise money in the private sector, and her effort has blossomed into a collaboration called enough sexual assault in detroit or enough said. it is a combination of public and private groups from major corporations to local police. joining us, joanna klein, chief marketing officer of the company fathead who spearheaded the effort. thank you for your time. >> it's an honor to be here talking about this. >> it's an honor to talk to you. the federal government estimates that there are hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits throughout the country. it's a crisis that got national attention after the vice president announced almost $80 million in grants to dozens of agencies nationwide to clear these backlogs. nevertheless, you and so many other women in detroit decided to take action with the backlog in your city. how did you hear about the problem in the first place?

>> back in 2013, i saw prosecutor worthy on an episode of "rock center" and she was talking about the rape kit backlog. i was and still am absolutely horrified that this happened. it's unthinkable when you think about these women, victims of sexual assault, going through the long, arduous process of evidence collection off of their bodies, these kits are collected, turned over to the police and at that time, these kits were then just placed on shelves. i understand that detroit is really, really turning around, coming alive, it's an amazing resurgence here, but the city officials can't do it alone. i work here, i play here. a lot of us live here and we have to do our part to help keep this city safe and bring justice to the victims. >> by the numbers, dollar figure-wise, what would it have cost the city, i know they have negotiated the cost of testing

the kits from $1500 to $490, but what was the number you and the other businesswomen were facing? what did you need to come up with? >> we were looking at a number that ranged anywhere from $20 million to $30 million at the time. the state has been incredible, the city, the county, other states and the national government to help give money to test the kits. but we're still looking at about $10 million more that we need to investigate the leads that were found through the testing, and then prosecute the offenders, get them off the streets. >> i know in march 2014 you hosted an event with the joyful heart foundation. when you think about by the numbers, the victims you have helped and you will help, what does that do for you emotionally just i guess knowing your connection to something other than yourself. >> i'm proud of the work we're

doing. i'm proud of the number of people that are stepping up to help this. i'm a mother and when i think about my involvement, i think about the lessons that i'm teaching my children about raising your voice, you have a voice, you can use it. you might not have all of the solutions yourself but you can go out and build an army. >> you built an army, an army of wonderful women who teamed up with you and for a great cause. congratulations to all of you. it's through this pain and suffering that this story was made public but it's through your heartfelt work and your dedication and the other businesswomen who have teamed up with you that perhaps some of these victims will get the closure they deserve. thank you so much for joining us. we greatly appreciate you. thank you. >> thank you. that does it for this hour of "msnbc live." up next, "andrea mitchell reports." can a business have a mind? a subconscious. a knack for predicting the future.

reflexes faster than the speed of thought. can a business have a spirit? can a business have a soul? can a business be...alive?

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports" did they get him? a u.s. drone may have taken out jihadi john, the isis executioner raised in britain responsible for beheading american hostages. >> the coalition forces conducted an air strike targeting mohammed emwazi, a british citizen also known as jihadi john. >> britain and our allies will not rest until we have defeated this evil terrorist death cult and the poisonous ideology on which it feeds. donald trump, unplugged. this time going after ben carson, the most popular republican in iowa. will the trump attack backfire? >> carson's an enigma to me. i'm first, carson's second. and i don't understand it. how stupid are the people of iowa? what the hell have we come to? >>